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Premier League: West Brom 2 Wigan 3

Wigan came from behind twice to beat West Brom 3-2 at The Hawthorns and keep their survival hopes alive.

James McArthur, with his first touch, and Callum McManaman scored second-half goals after an Arouna Kone header had been sandwiched by efforts from Shane Long and Gareth McAuley for the home side.

West Brom made three changes from the side that beat Southampton last week with Billy Jones, Youssouf Mulumbu and Markus Rosenberg coming in for Steven Reid, James Morrison and the suspended Marc-Antoine Fortune.

For Wigan, Ronnie Stam replaced the injured Maynor Figueroa, while Ben Watson came in for James McArthur, who dropped to the bench.

The first incident of note was a Graham Dorrans free-kick from 25 yards which was easily held by Joel Robles after Watson had handled.

Wigan threatened shortly afterwards, as Arouna Kone surged forward before unleashing a low drive from distance that Ben Foster had to tip behind for a corner.

It was West Brom who took the lead just before the half-hour mark. Romelu Lukaku released Rosenberg down the right-hand side, and his first-time cross along the six-yard box was tapped home at the far post by Long.

Shaun Maloney went close to finding an equaliser for Wigan, but his free-kick from just outside the box sailed a yard wide of the left-hand upright.

Lukaku was then denied at close range by Robles, and Wigan immediately responded to level the scores.

Jean Beausejour’s deep cross from the left-hand side was headed back across goal by Kone, leaving Foster helpless as he could only stand and watch the ball drop in.

West Brom retook the lead within five minutes of the restart. Dorrans swung over a free-kick from the right, and McAuley rose highest to nod the ball into the ground and beyond the dive of Robles.

Wigan manager Roberto Martinez responded by sending on McArthur and Roman Golobart in place of Jordi Gomez and Stam, with the double change reaping immediate rewards.

The ball was worked out to Maloney on the left, and his teasing delivery was headed home by the diving McArthur at the far post.

A few moments later, McAuley almost grabbed his second as once again he rose highest in the box but this time his header flew just over the crossbar.

Jones went close for West Brom, but his low drive was saved by the feet of Robles as the home side mounted a rapid counter-attack.

With 10 minutes remaining, Wigan took the lead for the first time. Once again Maloney was the creator, jinking his way to the bye-line before cutting the ball back for McManaman to slot home from six yards.

Robles had to be alert twice in the final moments, first parrying a Dorrans volley before tipping a Long header over the crossbar.

West Brom almost snatched a late equaliser, but Wigan scrambled the ball clear and held on to a precious three points which leaves them still in the relegation zone, but only two points behind Sunderland in 17th place.

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Premier League Preview: West Brom v Wigan

2 May 2013 14:33

Wigan desperately need points from their meeting with West Brom on Saturday as the games run out in their Premier League survival bid.

Roberto Martinez's side occupy the final relegation spot and trail 17th-placed Newcastle by five points, albeit with a game in hand.

Their clash with West Brom at the Hawthorns is followed by a game against Swansea on Tuesday and the two fixtures will doubtless go a long way to deciding the club's fate.

Wigan have not won a league game since their 1-0 home victory over Norwich at the end of March and missed out on ending that run by conceding in the 89th minute to draw with Tottenham last time out.

Martinez's men are famed for their habit of escaping from the drop zone in the latter stages of the season and won seven of their final nine fixtures to stay up in 2011-12.

But they will need a similar run of good form to pull away this time around, starting against Steve Clarke's side.

West Brom posted a 3-0 win over Southampton at St Mary's in their previous game and remain strong favourites to seal eighth place after a season which has defied expectations.

They have already surpassed their best Premier League points haul having accrued 48 and Gareth McAuley has praised his manager's role in that run.

"You look at his CV and see where he has worked in the past and it makes sense," he said. "He’s been in and around top clubs playing European football for a long time. There's a great wealth of knowledge there.

"He's intelligent and he studies football. He's very astute in terms of our preparation and we could tell from day one he was going to be good."

West Brom won the reverse fixture at the DW Stadium 2-1 back in November.